Sunday, November 1, 2015

Personal Playlist – The Best of Andy Summers: 1989-2015

If
you’re not familiar with the music of Andy Summers beyond his
tenure as the guitarist for The Police, now is as good a time as any
to get acquainted with his solo work, especially as we approach his
73rd birthday, literally at the end of the year (New
Year’s Eve, to be exact).

I
have compiled tracks that I feel are the most representative of his
solo career. Summers has two retrospective albums to his name, but
each covers separate and vastly different periods of his career. My
collection features music spanning 26 years, all the way from 1989’s
The Golden Wire to 2015’s Metal Dog.

My
criteria for these selections included that they showcase Summers’
guitar playing first and foremost, spotlight the brilliance and
complexity of his compositions (“Green Chimneys” and
Reincarnation of a Lovebird” are covers of Summers’ idols
Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus, respectively), and share a
cohesion of sound even while being independently unique.

And
now I present to you my Personal Playlist of The Best of Andy
Summers: 1989-2015. Enjoy!